What is Heroin?

As a parent, it’s difficult to know where to draw the line between normal teenage experimentation and curiosity when it comes to drugs and whether there’s a problem or not. You may have heard about the opiate epidemic in the United States. This leads you to the question, what is heroin . Heroin is becoming more readily available to the youth in America. Many teenagers and young adults are getting hooked on this potentially fatal substance. In order to help your child, it’s important to understand what the drug is and what signs to look for.

What is Heroin?

When trying to search the internet for keywords such as “what is heroin?”, you may find a wide range of answers. Heroin is a street drug that comes from the opium plant. Opioids can create a euphoric feeling, but they’re also used to block pain receptors in the brain. This is why many pain medications are made from opiates. Heroin was originally created as a pain medication in the late 1890s, and it was marketed as a non-addictive substance. Many soldiers actually used heroin to get off of morphine, but it was soon found that heroin was much more potent and addictive. Some people begin to intensely crave the effects of opiates, which leads to an addiction.

What is Heroin Made from Today?

The heroin problem has become much worse over the last century with a spike of opiate addictions in the early 2000s. Many people in the early 2000s became addicted to prescription pain medications like OxyContin. Heroin, a cheaper, stronger alternative can be bought from drug dealers. Heroin has become more and more dangerous over the years because drug manufacturers cut the drug with other dangerous substances that may lead to fatal overdoses. One of the common methods used today is cutting heroin with an even stronger opioid called Fentanyl.

Getting Help for a Heroin Addiction

If you believe your teen or young adult has become addicted to heroin, there is hope. Beaches Recovery specializes in helping people overcome heroin addiction, and it all starts with the detox process at a partner facility. Detoxification helps your child safely and comfortably come off of the drug, and then they can begin addiction treatment at Beaches Recovery. Our amenities offer many activities for our patients while they work at managing their addiction and staying sober. Call us at 866-605-0532 and see how we can help.